


Carrots

by ChillyJackal



Series: Zootopia Oddities AU [5]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Food, Gen, Horror, lovecraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 21:29:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11563701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyJackal/pseuds/ChillyJackal
Summary: When the lunch she packed for the day is ruined, Judy Hopps goes out to get lunch from a restaurant suggested to her by her partner Nick Wilde and gets a surprise.





	Carrots

Judy Hopps stared down at the plate in front of her and let out a loud sigh before dumping the contents into the trash.

"I can't believe this. Do they just design these things to dry out like that or something?"

Her partner peeked over her shoulder to look at the tiny carrot now laying in the bottom of the garbage, struggling to keep a smile off his face as he spoke.

"Trouble with the Carrot For One again?"

Nick finally broke into laughter as Judy turned around and gave him a tired and grouchy look before giving up and shaking her head. Indeed, whether it be a minute too long in the workplace microwave or a carrot that was too small to begin with, her lunch for the day was now ruined.

"I actually skipped breakfast this morning too, I forgot to set the alarm last night and woke up later than I wanted. This was the only thing I had time to bring with me to work."

The fox scratched his chin for a moment before raising a finger up into the air; he had an idea.

"You still have time to go get lunch right? Why not just go grab something quick like a bunny and come back?"

Judy groaned at Nick's pun and rubbed her temples.

"I dunno Nick, the rush around this time is insane and I know if I try to go now I'll end up coming back late and Bogo will chew me out."

"At least he wouldn't be the only one chewing something. You really shouldn't skip meals Carrots, gotta be healthy if you're going to be one of the fine members of the ZPD"

Even if he was fooling around, to an extent he was right. Judy needed to eat something before she went back on duty or she wouldn't be able to concentrate properly.

"Okay, do you know like a small place somewhere where I can grab lunch really fast? You know all the streets and stuff right? There has to be just a little place to grab food and go."

Nick narrowed his eyes as he tried to recall any small-time restaurants he'd encountered during his time as a hustler, his eyes widening back up when he remembered something.

"Got it. There's a little place in the Nocturnal District that a friend of mine told me about once. They said it had some of the best food they'd ever eaten and they were super quick with it."

Nick fished through his wallet and found a small piece of paper, scribbling down the address and handing it to Judy, who snatched it up without hesitation.

"You sure this is the right address Nick?"

"If not there then probably right beside it. I remember my friend was pretty adamant about trying it myself, and like you said I know these streets like the back of my hand Carrots."

Judy looked at the clock and bit her lower lip, at this point she had no choice. She said goodbye to her partner and rushed to her police cruiser, trying her best to avoid a speeding ticket as she made her way down to the Nocturnal District. It didn't take long for her to find the small set of buildings in one of the small streets, her destination nestled between two larger apartment complexes and sticking out thanks to its bright and cheerful colours refusing to mesh with the more subdued shades of the bricks around it. As she approached the front door, she spotted a silver fox with a bag full of spray paint cans sneaking into the alley beside the store. If she weren't in such a rush, she'd have given the troublemaker a piece of her mind, but right now she was on a different mission.

The interior of the establishment wasn't as garishly bright as the exterior, much to Judy's relief. The restaurant was fairly ordinary and mundane, like she'd been to a place like this a million times before in different locations. She was so lost in trying to take in the mundane atmosphere that she almost bumped into the pair of mammals who popped up in front of her, making her jump a bit in surprise.

"Oh geeze I'm sorry! I was uh, I just wanted to..."

"Welcome! Welcome!"

The two mammals were brown hyena, both female as far as Judy could tell. They held each other close and had wide grins on their faces as they spoke. The rabbit could only assume they were either partners, or perhaps related in some way.

"Come in, come in! Are you here for our lunch special, or did you come here to look at the ceiling? We don't mind either way really."

They both giggled as Judy blushed and cleared her throat.

"I'm Judy Hopps from the ZPD, and I'm here because my friend told me I could get a quick lunch without any hassle here."

"Oh a friend! Are they cute? Did you bring them with you? Did you come for the couples lunch maybe?"

She shook her head and held up her paws, trying to get the pair to calm down in some manner before continuing.

"I'm just here to get some lunch and then go back to work, if uh, that's alright with you two."

The brown hyena gasped and nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! Oh goodness we're so sorry Ms. Hopps! My name is Ariel," the first woman bowed and pointed to her sister, "and my name is Alex. We will be serving you today!"

They were certainly friendly, she had to give them that much. The rabbit had zero time to argue as they rushed her over to a booth and sat her down, one of them pouring her a glass of water as the other handed her a menu.

"Water is free of course, it's our special spring water we import from out of Zootopia. Make sure you drink it before your meal gets here, it makes our special food taste even better!"

Judy thumbed past the predator section of the menu and looked over the choice of prey meals, surprised to find a rather large variety before her.

"Is the steamed carrot fresh?"

She felt silly asking this when she was already in a rush, but if she was going to spend money and go through the trouble to come here it wasn't going to be for another shriveled frozen vegetable.

"Oh yes, we catch them out back in our garden."

"You...catch them?"

The sisters looked at each other and snickered playfully, she caught on fairly quickly and laughed nervously with them. Her hunger and anxiety over the rush for a meal was clearly distracting her already.

"I'll have the steamed carrot then. Make sure it's not moving around on my plate when I get it!"

They all had a good laugh before the pair wandered off into the kitchen while Judy took a long drink from the glass on the table. She decided to look over the rest of the menu out of curiosity as she waited. The menu had exactly what she'd expect from a place like this, just the average foods for preds and prey, but a note caught her eye in the predator menu.

"Imported from...that's weird."

She squinted her eyes but she couldn't make out the name of their importer, more than likely some sort of print error, not that it mattered. As long as she could eat soon she'd be happy.

As Judy took another sip of her water and shoved the menu aside she could feel a slight buzz go through her body. Her worries and anxiety that fueled her need to get back to work had almost melted away as she sipped her drink and relaxed in the ambiance of the booth. By the time she finished her water she stared blankly down at the table as one of the sisters placed a plate with a massive carrot in front of her.

"Here you go! One nice big carrot in a special sauce. Eat up before it gets away!"

The rabbit let out a loud laugh with the woman before digging into the carrot. Juices squirted from the thick vegetable as she cut it into slices and started eating it, lazily wiping the same juices from her face as she ate for the first time that day. Something about the carrot made her feel happy. A strange filling bliss began emanating from her stomach and through her entire body as she cleaned her plate and stood back up with her wallet out.

"Someone looks happy! I'm guessing you liked the meal?"

She stared at the twins with a stupid grin on her face as she sighed and nodded.

"That, was the best carrot I've eaten in a long time. For real, I feel amazing!"

"We're so happy to hear that! So happy! We're always ready to serve!"

Judy paid her bill and took her time joking around with the pair before going back to her cruiser and driving back to the station. She didn't react when Bogo started ranting at her about spending an extra hour on lunch, or getting her uniform messy with the juice from the carrot during said break. She spent the rest of the day feeling so good that it seemed like nothing could keep her down, a mood that was immune to any negative impact. She only felt it dampen slightly when Nick started snapping his fingers in front of her.

"Carrots. Carrots! You alright? Did you go drinking or something instead of lunch?"

"Huh, what? Whatta you mean Nick? Everything's fine, I've never felt better like, ever."

He gave her a concerned look and a pat on the shoulder.

"Well I mean, if you say so Judy. You just seem a bit, how would I put this, too chipper? Like a cat on the nip."

She gasped and laughed, covering her face.

"Oh Niiiick I'm fine! Don't worry about me! I'll see you tomorrow okay? Have an awesome night!"

Nick stood dumbfounded as Judy gave him a kiss and skipped off. He felt his lips tingling slightly and his nose scrunch as he finally noticed the odd smell and taste of Judy's lips.

"I'm starting to remember why I never went to that place..."

That night, Judy giggled and rolled up into her sheets, still full of that happiness and joy she'd felt since her break. Even when her neighbors asked her to keep down the giggling she felt herself struggling to be quiet as she drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams were horrible.

Disgusting squirming wet shapes moved all around her, the sound of alien screaming and cries echoed through what darkness wasn't moving around her as she tried to run away from it. Bizarre symbols and words occasionally flashed in her mind, forcing themselves into her brain as she collapsed to the wet squirming floor and screamed out in terror.

She gasped and shot up from bed, covered in sweat and with the worst headache she'd ever had. She gripped her head and cursed under her breath as she stumbled to the bathroom and took some tablets to relieve the pain before struggling to pull herself back into bed, hoping the awful dreams wouldn't return so she'd get some peace tonight.

This pattern would repeat itself until she woke up to the blaring sound of her alarm, a good ten minutes after it already went off.

"Ugh, cheese and crackers, I'm gonna be late..."

Her headache had finally stopped, but she felt like she got zero sleep at all. She pulled her heavy body into the shower, then into her uniform and finally into her car. When she arrived at the ZPD she had to hold her head when Clawhauser said hello to her, had to apologize and explain that she was a little under the weather today.

"Morning Carrots. Rough night?"

"Ugh, not now Nick."

"What happened? You were pretty happy when you hopped out of here yesterday."

"Bad dreams."

Nick gave her a puzzled look.

"What kind of bad dreams?"

"You don't want to know, just trust me."

The rest of the morning was spent trying to stay awake during briefings, drinking down cups of cheap coffee and struggling to focus on her work as Nick tried to pick up her slack. At least, as much as he'd actually try to. She hadn't even noticed when Bogo dismissed her for her lunch break, realizing that she hadn't even packed lunch for the day at all.

"Oh great, because I wasn't feeling crummy enough today..."

A sudden realization hit her, and she got a smile on her face.

"Nick, I'm gonna go to that place I went to yesterday."

"Judy last time you went you came back super late. Bogo probably would've lectured you longer if you weren't so out of it already."

"No no, I'll just go quick this time and maybe bring food back for later. I'm sure they do take-out right?"

Nick shrugged and went back to his own lunch.

"Alright Carrots, you go have your special lunch at your new watering hole."

She chuckled and gave the fox a hug before leaving, driving down to the restaurant again and wincing as she walked in to find the twins waiting for her, and just as excited as the day previous. Their voices made her head rattle slightly as they attacked with the same barrage of questions from her last visit, along with a few more.

"I'm really sorry, but I need to just get a quick lunch and go today, I feel kinda rough today and I got in a bit of trouble with my boss."

"Oh no! That's not good at all! We're so sorry! So sorry!"

They lead her over to the same booth, poured the water and started to put down the menu when Judy interrupted them.

"Actually I'll just have the steamed carrot again please. Gonna get this over with sooner rather than later y'know?"

"Ah, yes Ms. Hopps! Right away!"

The twins saluted and scampered off to the kitchen while she rolled her fingers over her head and tried to get her headache to stop. She couldn't get herself to drink the water right now, she wondered if she'd even be able to eat that entire carrot when she felt like this much like a burning trash pile. She barely managed to take a tiny sip of the water as her plate was put down in front of her.

"Here you go! Enjoy!"

She thanked whichever sister decided to serve her, she didn't care which at this point, and looked at her plate. The buzz from yesterday was coming back, but it was so tiny that her headache easily overpowered it. She absentmindedly moved her fork towards the carrot and stopped when she noticed something.

Her eyes widened and her heart started racing as she stumbled out of the booth and ran outside, pushing past a silver fox trying to spray graffiti in a nearby alley and throwing up in a trash can.

Carrots weren't supposed to be that big.

Carrots weren't supposed to squirm as you cut into them.

Carrots didn't have that many squirming legs.

They sure as hell weren't supposed to look back up at you when you ate them.


End file.
